Authorities have described as untrue reports that there is a typhoid outbreak in Blantyre.
This follows claims that several people have shown signs of the disease within the city.
Some reports indicate that hospital officials are ‘misdiagnosing’ the disease as Malaria allegedly in a desperate attempt not to cause public fear.
However, responsible authorities from the city have dispelled such fears saying people have nothing to be afraid of.
According to the District’s Director of Health Services, Gift Kawalazira, the reports about the outbreak are not true.
He further said there has not been any case of typhoid in the city and he wondered where people are getting those reports.
“We have surveillance systems that can ably pick up (traces of the disease). So those reports are not true,” Said that Kawalazira.
Speaking on the same issue, spokesperson in the ministry of Health Joshua Malango said government has not yet received such reports stressing that if they knew anything, they would have alerted the public.
“There’s no reason we can hide that we have an outbreak. By doing so we would be doing injustice to the public.
“The best way to ensure they report in good time to health practitioners if they have any strange signs and symptoms,” Malango said.
Typhoid fever is contracted by drinking or eating the bacteria in contaminated food or water.
People with acute illness can contaminate the surrounding water supply through stool, which contains a high concentration of the bacteria.
The signs and symptoms include poor appetite, headaches, diarrhoea and fever.
